With recent injuries to multiple first basemen on the Pirates' roster, it seemed like we might be on the verge of witnessing Mason Martin's call up to the big leagues.
But after talking with Ben Cherington Friday afternoon, we still don't have a clue of when exactly we might see the Pirates' No. 22 prospect in Pittsburgh.
Daniel Vogelbach returned from the 10-day Injured List right before the 8-6 loss to the Diamondbacks. And before then, the Pirates purchased Yu Chang from the Guardians to supplement the big-league roster.
But ... why? Why go with an external addition rather than call up a first baseman who is hitting the ball quite well at Class AAA Indianapolis? What factors into that decision?
"Some of it is performance. Is there a specific thing that the player is working on at the time that we think a little bit more time in Triple-A will help? Some of it is roster consideration. There's always more than one factor," Cherington explained.
"In this particular case, Chang is a player that we've liked in the past. He happens to have played some first base. That was not the driving factor, I would say. That was an ancillary factor that yes, he's played some first base. But more than that, he's just a player that we've liked in the past, and obviously hadn't gotten a lot of playing time this year. [He had] a tough start with the COVID IL and all that, so his timing is probably off a little bit right now. But he's a guy that we've liked as a player in the past and had some success offensively late last year. Derek Shelton's gonna do his best to get him in there and try to get him some at bats where he can and see if we can build him up."
As for Martin, we are still in wait-and-see mode. Heading into Friday's action, he owned a slash line of .233/.305/.533 with 11 home runs and 37 RBIs in 47 games at Indianapolis. I asked Cherington if there was anything specific that Martin needed to do before he earns his call to the big leagues.
"To his credit, he's worked his tail off," Cherington said. "He's amongst the hardest workers we have in the minor leagues, and you see that pan out. He's become a much better defensive player at first base because of that work ethic. He's working his tail off on every element of the game. It's just fine tuning and finding a little bit more progress on recognition and contact on certain pitches. He's got huge power. We know that. He's a dangerous hitter. We believe Mason can be a really good major league player that has that capability. We just feel like for right now, with the things he's working on, that he's in a good spot in Indy. We'll see where that goes."
Martin went 1 for 5 with a double and a strikeout in Indianapolis' 5-2 win over Omaha on Friday.
